


As We Splinter Apart

by SilenceIsGolden15



Series: Voltron Oneshots [25]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Abandonment, Broken Bones, Gen, Hurt Keith (Voltron), Keith is still red's son and you can fight me on that, Missions Gone Wrong, Near Death Experiences, Protective Lance (Voltron), Protective Pidge | Katie Holt, Shiro (Voltron) Has a Clone, Stabbing, protective red lion
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-05
Updated: 2018-11-05
Packaged: 2019-08-19 11:08:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,619
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16533422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SilenceIsGolden15/pseuds/SilenceIsGolden15
Summary: At this point, Keith really should’ve been used to things not going his way. But this was a new low, a special circumstance that he just had to dedicate energy to brooding over. Because of course this would happen. Of course.This mission was supposed to be easy. Three Blades. Get in, get the data, get out, hopefully no casualties this time. It had gone wrong, because things always go wrong, and now he was aimlessly wandering the halls of a Galra base with a hole in his shoulder, a knife in his side, and probably a sprained and/or broken ankle.And the worst part? He’d been left behind.





	As We Splinter Apart

_ Things never go right. Would it kill the universe for things to go right for me, just once in my life? Just once? _

At this point, Keith really should’ve been used to things not going his way. But this was a new low, a special circumstance that he just had to dedicate energy to brooding over. Because of course this would happen. Of  _ course _ .

This mission was supposed to be easy. Three Blades. Get in, get the data, get out, hopefully no casualties this time. It had gone wrong, because things always go wrong, and now he was aimlessly wandering the halls of a Galra base with a hole in his shoulder, a knife in his side, and probably a sprained and/or broken ankle. 

And the worst part? He’d been left behind. 

They told him to draw the sentries fire while they finished their work, because he was the smallest and the hardest to hit. And it had worked fine, until an actual Galra soldier popped around a corner and shoved a dagger between his ribs. If he’d been wearing his Paladin armor it would’ve been nothing but a glancing blow. 

The Blade suits didn’t have nearly enough plating. 

The pain had surprised him, he’d staggered and stilled long enough for a sentry to get a shot at his shoulder, and then pure adrenaline had carried him through the rest of the fight. While he had them engaged the other Blades slipped back to the ship with the data. 

With one dobosh remaining before they were scheduled for pick up, stabbed and halfway across the ship, the last sentry got a lucky hit on his ankle and slowed him considerably.

Long story short, he missed his rendezvous, and judging from the empty static in his comm, they’d followed policy and left without him. 

So here he was. Alone on a Galra ship, gravely injured with infuriatingly low mobility, with no lion or any other method of escape. 

Keith paused momentarily to catch a painful breath. When he propped himself against the wall, his hand left a smeared blood mark from where he’d been pressing his hand against his shoulder. The stab wound wasn’t bleeding too heavily since the blade was still in (even if it made moving painful as all fuck) but the shoulder wound was like a waterfall, and all he had to block it was the equivalent of a toothpick. 

His left arm was a line of fire all the way down. His torso was mostly numb besides the sharp razor graze every time the dagger was jostled. His right ankle throbbed harshly in time with his heartbeat, and as Keith breathed slowly and felt the dagger shift again, he was hit by the realization. 

He was not going to survive this. 

With trembling fingers, he reached up and dismissed his mask, finally letting out the humid air that had been accumulating underneath it. The cool air of the base was a miniscule comfort. 

Keith had always prided himself on his realism, and right now that realism was slapping him in the face with the cold hard truth. He wasn’t going to make it off this ship alive. 

Bleeding profusely. Broken ankle. In enemy territory. No lion. The only people who knew he was here had left him for dead. 

Red couldn’t save him this time. 

He abruptly slid down the wall to the floor, letting out a quiet wince when it aggravated all of his wounds. 

Alright, fine. If he was going to die here, he was going to do it on his terms. He’d wait for the next patrol to stumble across him, and he’d fight and take as many of the bastards down with him before they put a laser blast through his brain. 

Closing his eyes, Keith did his best to ignore the pain as he waited for the inevitable. 

* * *

_ God, Red, shut up! I’m going! _

Lance could barely think as he made his way to the bridge. He had to find Allura, or Coran, or Shiro, or anybody really. Because Red was roaring,  _ screaming  _ in his head, flooding his body with itchy adrenaline. She wanted him to go somewhere but she was too incoherent to tell him where or why. 

If he had been Keith, he probably would have gone. Shot Allura or Shiro a quick ping and followed Red wherever she wanted him to go without a second thought. But he wasn’t Keith, he was Lance, and he wasn’t just going to take off without a plan or knowing what he was getting into. 

Red would just have to wait a hot minute. 

Finally, the door to the bridge was in sight. When he pushed through the doors he was relieved to find Shiro, Allura, and Coran all there and Lotor nowhere to be seen. Shiro and Allura seemed to be discussing something, but stopped when Lance entered the room. 

Looking up, Allura’s brow immediately creased with concern. 

“Lance? Are you alright?” 

He opened his mouth to answer, only to be cut off by the chime of an incoming message. An urgent one, if the way the screen lit up red was any indication. They all immediately turned towards it, Lance stubbornly ignoring how Red growled in frustration. Underneath the angry lion he could make out the sounds of boots in the hallway-- Hunk and Pidge must have heard the alert go off. 

Sure enough, half a second later they were rushing onto the bridge, and when Allura opened the message they were all present and accounted for. 

They were greeted by Kolivan’s solemn purple face, and Lance felt an inexplicable rock of dread settle in his gut as Red roared ever louder. He barely heard Kolivan speak over the din. 

“Paladins. I must offer my deepest condolences.”

Red’s anger made Lance clench his fists. He didn’t even know what he was angry about yet. 

“Condolences?” Allura sounded confused. “Whatever for?”

Simultaneously, all of their backs straightened, and Allura’s expression went dead. Kolivan pressed his lips together, understanding that they’d all realized at the same time, and cleared his throat. 

“Your former Red Paladin was lost on a mission.” 

Dead silence. 

Lance had to run the words through his mental translator. Former Red Paladin = Keith. Lost = Dead. On a mission = killed by Galra. 

“No.” That whimper came from Hunk, who already had tears welling up. Allura had her hands clasped and pressed to her mouth, staring at Kolivan in horror. Shiro’s stare was blank and cold. Coran hunched his shoulders in and peered at the floor like he was Atlas holding up the world. Pidge’s clenched fists trembled. And Lance…

Lance still couldn’t think straight. Every time he tried to force the idea of Keith being dead through his mind, Red would roar and growl at him and shove it out again. 

_ Not right. Not right. It’s not right.  _

Before he could gather himself enough to speak, Pidge was stepping towards the screen, jaw clenched tight to keep the tears from falling.

“Where’s the body?” There wasn’t the least bit of waver in her voice, even as Kolivan gave her some sort of look that Lance was too jumbled up to interpret. 

“He missed the rendezvous on his mission.”

“So you don’t have a body?” Allura’s voice cut the air like a razor. 

“We don’t need one. He missed the rendezvous-- there is only one conclusion.”

“If there’s no body, you can’t prove he’s actually dead.” Pidge snapped, and of course she of all people would be the one to catch this. This wasn’t the first time someone had tried to convince her someone was dead with no proof. 

“Paladin, I understand what you’re thinking.” Kolivan’s eyes softened ever so slightly around the edges, like he actually did understand. “But I must insist you don’t delude yourselves. Keith is dead.”

White hot rage burned through Lance’s chest as Red screamed bloody murder in his head.

_ LIAR. _

“Liar.” He found himself murmuring along with Red. The word was soft, but it still drew everyone’s attention anyway.

“What was that?” Asked Kolivan sharply. Lance glared at him. 

“I said: You’re a liar. He’s not dead.”

Suddenly, Kolivan looked exhausted. “Paladin--”

“No.” Lance interrupted viciously. Dimly he realized this anger wasn’t really his, it was Red’s, but at this moment it didn’t really matter. “Red can still feel him, he’s still out there, and he’s hurt--” He winced and clutched clumsily at his temple as Red shoved emotions and thoughts into his brain that weren’t his. His blood sang. “And you left him there. You left him there to die.”

When he pried his watery eyes open, the whole group was staring at him in horror while Kolivan growled on the screen. 

“He missed the rendezvous.” He insisted for the nth time. “He knew the risks--” 

This time it was Pidge who cut him off, clearly having had it up to here with his excuses.

“Coordinates. Now.”

* * *

It took mere minutes for Allura to wormhole to the coordinates Kolivan had begrudgingly given them. They popped out on the far side of the quadrant, next to a smallish Galra base orbiting a smallish moon orbiting a smallish planet. Physically, not that impressive. But knowing that Keith was in there somewhere, alone and hurting, made it feel foreboding. 

Lance was ready to run to his lion the moment they were out of the wormhole. Pidge, Hunk, and Allura were just as eager, all of them on their feet and already heading for the door when Shiro spoke up.

“Guys, wait.”

Red growled in Lance’s mind. She’d quieted down since they got the coordinates, but she was still on edge and anxious and therefore so was Lance. 

“What?” He couldn’t stop himself from snapping. “Come on, Keith is in there, let’s  _ go _ .”

“What if it’s a trap?” Shiro was far too calm right now. Almost detached. Red snapped and snarled. 

_ Unacceptable.  _

“So what if it is?” Lance lashed back. “Flying in to save Allura was definitely a trap and we did it anyway. How is this different?”

“I just think we need to be more cautious.” Shiro crossed his arms over his chest and frowned ponderously at the image of the base on the screen. “The Black Lion and I will stay here and watch your backs. Just in case.”

Red  _ did not  _ like that. She practically howled. But they really didn’t have time.

“Fine.” Pidge butted in, already pushing past Lance to get to the door. “We don’t have time to argue with you about it. Let’s move.”

* * *

Even though Pidge had been the one to suggest they split up, she was already starting to regret it. The halls of the base were quiet, and she had to fight her instinct to jump every time she heard her own footsteps echo back at her. 

_ Keep it together, Holt. Keith is counting on you.  _

A different sound reached her ears, and Pidge paused to listen. It was soft, almost too soft to hear, but if she stayed still and strained a little…

Breathing. It was quiet raspy breathing, sounding like air being sucked through a sandpaper straw. Pidge tilts her head, closes her eyes, and slowly turns her feet to the right and follows the sound. 

The first thing she sees in the low light is a dark shape slumped against the wall, and her heart leaps into her throat as she increases her pace. As she gets closer, she begins to notice something gleaming on the floor and smeared on the wall, revealed by the reflection of the dim purple lighting of the base. She breaks into a run.

Pidge had spent the whole time since their conversation with Kolivan preparing herself for what she might see. Pools of blood, missing limbs, a corpse-- these were all possibilities she had forced herself to imagine in gruesome detail so that she could be ready for them. But somehow, actually seeing Keith crumbled on the floor was worse than what she could’ve imagined. 

“Guys,” She said softly to her comm, and saw the shape that was Keith twitch at the sound. Good, he was conscious. “I found him. Lock onto my location. Hunk, hurry.” 

With that she hurried forward the last few feet, trying to ignore the squelch that her armor made when she knelt before Keith in the puddle of dark liquid  _ that was definitely blood, a whole lot of blood, ok this is not good at all.  _

“Keith.” She said, softly, trying to get his attention without giving away her position. His head moved, eyelids fluttered, but he didn’t open them. Pidge snapped her fingers, shook his shoulder (the one that didn’t actually literally have a hole in it oh my god) and finally he looked at her. 

“Pidge?” His voice rasped in his throat the same way his breath did, hair sticking to his forehead with sweat and dried blood. 

“Yeah, it’s me.”

She wasn’t expecting him to force a hollow chuckle past a wince and mutter, “Is this the part-- where my life flashes-- before my eyes?” His speech stuttered as he heaved for breath. Pidge instinctively tightened her grip on his shoulder like she could physically hold him in this mortal realm.

“No.” She snapped, harsher than she intended. “No, you’re not dead. I’m real, I’m right here, and the others are gonna be here any second.”

The green paladin sucked in a deep breath and held it for a second. “Listen, I’m gonna lay you down so that Hunk can patch you up when he gets here, but you can’t fall asleep, alright?”

Keith nodded his head jerkily, but perked up a little right as Pidge began to hear rapid footfalls coming down the hallway. Too fast for sentries. 

She had just managed to get him laid out on his back when Hunk and Lance came dashing around the corner. Lance watched their backs with his bayard while Hunk quickly dropped down to Keith bearing the emergency first aid kid and collapsible stretcher. 

“He’s lost a lot of blood.” Pidge began rattling off. “He’s got a gunshot on his left shoulder and--” She went a bit paler when she noticed the dark lump on his opposite side. “A stab wound.”

Keith’s head lolled on the floor and he muttered something. Pidge, still sitting near his head, leaned in close as Hunk pulled bandages from the kit. 

“Ankle.” Is what he was muttering, and he jerked one of his legs. 

“He says his ankle is messed up, too.”

She couldn’t help the tiny, bittersweet smile. Even now Keith was trying his best to be helpful. 

More footsteps clattered down the hall, but none of them tensed up, recognizing the light step of the Altean princess. Allura halted at the end of the hall, pink armor turning a strange mauve under the purple lights, and immediately began barking status updates into her comms. 

Keith groaned quietly, and Pidge wrenched her attention back down. Bloodstained lips mouthed a familiar word and her heart clenched in her chest.

“Shiro… where’s Shiro…”

Pidge pasted on her best fake grin, but it felt like a mug balancing on the edge of a table. Liable to shatter any moment. 

“Shiro’s fine, Keith. He’s waiting outside with Black, making sure nothing catches us off guard.”

Keith let out a soft huff and curled his fingers against the metal floor. Pidge took his hand and squeezed. 

“I wanna… see Shiro…”

_ God, Keith. Stop breaking my heart.  _

“It’s alright, you’ll see him in a little bit, ok? Promise.” But even as she said the words, she raised her head and caught Lance’s eye. He gave her a small nod and took a few steps back to activate his own comms. Pidge could just barely make out his whispers if she strained. 

“Hey, Shiro, things aren’t looking so good here right now. He was shot and stabbed and there’s a lot of blood…” He let his voice trail off and listened for a moment, then his face scrunched up in anger. 

“He’s asking for you, asshole.” 

Keith’s fingers tightened around hers when he noticed her expression change, so she schooled her face back into something neutral and murmured something else about things being ok. 

Lance listened again, then spat, “Fuck you.” And aggressively tapped his comms off. He met Pidge’s stunned gaze with a half remorseful shrug and turned away.

Had… Lance just cursed  _ at Shiro?  _ What the hell had he said? Either way, it didn’t seem like Shiro would be coming to join them any time soon. 

Something scratched at the back of her mind. The same thing that came alive when she’d heard about the Kerberos mission, the same thing that had screamed when Kolivan told them Keith was dead. It whispered  _ Something’s not right.  _

But she couldn’t think about that now, because Hunk was done with his field dressing of Keith’s wounds and they were preparing to get him on the stretcher and take him back to the Castle. All of their white armor was stained and smeared with red, and Keith’s pale face only grew paler. 

“Ok, we’re gonna move him.” Hunk was saying in a tight voice. “Allura, come help me. You lift his legs. Pidge, keep his head still.”

Pidge obligingly shifted her position so that she was above Keith’s head, fingertips cradling his temples gently and keeping his head level. Keith looked up at her with dazed eyes, blinking once, and then he smiled at her. 

Pidge bit her tongue so that she wouldn’t cry. 

“Alright. One, two, three!”

On three, they all lifted together, and Keith slammed his teeth together with a clack to bite back his ragged cry of pain. Then they were moving, Hunk and Allura carrying the stretcher between them and Pidge trotting alongside, Lance once again watching their backs. 

And, despite the injuries and the bloodloss, Keith was surprisingly chatty. 

“How’d you guys know… to come?”

His eyes kept sagging shut and ripping open again, and Pidge realized that he was trying to stay awake. God, even when he was dying he tried so hard at everything. Threw every ounce of his being into everything he did. 

“Red.” She answered, voice muffled by emotion. “She started screaming at Lance. Wouldn’t shut up until we went to get you.”

“Gave me a helluva headache.” Lance chimed in from behind. Keith’s laugh came out choked. 

“Yeah… she can be… loud… sometimes…”

His voice began to trail off, his head tilted to the side, and Pidge found herself scrambling to say something-- anything-- to get his attention and keep him awake.

“Kolivan called us.” She blurted out, and Keith managed to look at her again. “He tried to tell us you were dead.”

“I was… ‘s far as he knew…”

“The Garrison taught me not to trust death without a body.”

Keith hummed a little at that just as the team arrived at the exit. And then promptly lost consciousness. 

* * *

The atmosphere inside the infirmary was tense, to say the least. It was the epitome of the calm before the storm-- it was standing in an empty field watching a tornado bear down on you, it was the creak of the guillotine before the blade dropped, it was the swish of an axe before it splintered apart a log. 

Coran and Allura huddled near the pod, fiddling uselessly with the settings and murmuring about nothing in low tones. Hunk and Pidge sat in front of it, each pretending to work on their own tech project but not really accomplishing anything. Shiro slumped against the back wall, arms crossed and head down. And Lance paced in circles around all of them, his sneakers clicking on the metal floor. 

_ Click click click. _

Finally, after who knows how long, he came to a standstill. The clicking stopped. 

“What’s wrong with you?” 

His voice split the air like an arrow, and as in all things, he was deadly accurate. Everyone knew exactly who he was talking to. And with that, the tension shattered.

The tornado arrived. The blade dropped. The log splintered. 

“ _ What _ did you just say to me?” Shiro responded, something akin to fel flames flickering in his pupils. Lance didn’t even look over at him, didn’t react-- he was like a glacier, serene and severe. 

“I asked what’s wrong with you.” Answered Lance. He’d come to a stop in front of Keith’s pod, and now he stood still and examined the pale face inside, still smeared with blood in some places and shadowed with the effects of pushing himself too hard for too long. He kept his body language open, hands shoved in his pockets and shoulders down, but it wasn’t a symbol of goodwill. 

“See, I remember a time where you cared what happened to this team. We flew into the middle of the Galra empire for Allura. You tried to take on the entire Blade for Keith during his trials.”

Shiro opened his mouth to retaliate, but Lance plunged on ahead without the slightest waver. 

“But now something seems different. You do things without talking to us first, like with Lotor and the bayard. You went behind our backs to take him to the Kral Zera. And now you stay behind on a rescue mission. So I’ll ask again.” Slowly, he turned his head and looked at Shiro, eyes glittering. “What. Is. Wrong. With. You?”

The whole room held its breath, waiting for another explosion like before. They waited for Shiro to yell at Lance, to lose his cool, to tear him down-- but he didn’t. Instead he straightened up, eyes burning like coal, and left the room.

Silence bore down on them. 

  
  
  



End file.
